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Discounts and Funding for U-M Authors

Sources of Funding for APCs

At present, there are several potential sources of funding to support article processing charges (APCs), color figure fees, or other fees associated with the publication of scholarly journal articles. For members of the U-M community subject to these fees, we recommend pursuing the following sources of funding:

Grants and sponsored projects awards: Take publication costs into account when applying for funding, and write publication costs into your grant. If you are seeking to publish work that was previously funded, check with your funding agency to see if you can use funds to cover publication costs.

Individual funds (start-up funds, research accounts, special funds associated with appointments): Most faculty have funds available to them individually which can be used to cover travel, materials, equipment, publication costs, and other expenses associated with their work. Your academic unit might recommend (and in some cases require) that you expend these funds first before seeking additional funding at the level of your department or school/college.

Unit funds: Departments and schools/colleges offer research incentive funds. While policies vary by unit, publication costs are a generally accepted expense that can be covered using these funds. Consult your chair and/or associate dean(s) to learn more.

Special programs in your unit: Some units have unique opportunities for funding. For example, in LSA an application for the Associate Professor Support Fund could include publication charges as part of your budget. Consult your chair and/or associate dean(s) to learn more.

Publisher Discounts for U-M Authors

If you are a U-M author, you will receive a discount through the publishers below thanks to the University Library’s membership in various publisher programs or library subscriptions.

American Chemical Society: The American Chemical Society offers discounts to U-M authors because the U-M Library subscribes to the Web Editions of "All ACS Publications." There are different price levels depending on if the author chooses to make the article available immediately or wait 12 months and whether the author is an ACS member.

BioMed Central (BMC): Membership level: Supporting; membership fees are paid. All U-M researchers can take advantage of a 15% discount on the Article Processing Charge when publishing in open access journals. View BioMed Central's list of journals here

British Journal of Cancer: U-M Library has a site license to BJC, and therefore authors pay a reduced APC ($3,100 compared to the standard cost of $4,250).